


somehow | it kind of blows my mind

by gaypanic



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, F/F, POV Alternating, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Swan Queen Week, actress!Regina, waitress!Emma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 09:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13610208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaypanic/pseuds/gaypanic
Summary: The modern world has lost most of its belief in love, even for people with soulmate marks, and of those with soulmate marks, most are never lucky enough to find each other. When Emma discovers that her soulmate is a celebrity, her hope to find true love and true acceptance starts to fade, but before the light can go out, fate intervenes.It always does.





	somehow | it kind of blows my mind

**Author's Note:**

> So happy to have written a soulmate au. So happy to utilize this food service experience for something other than food service. So happy to be participating in a sqw for the first time ever.
> 
> I have to say, this is definitely /not/ the best thing I’ve ever written. This fic is low key garbage... but it’s fun garbage so I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you aren’t disappointed in me! 
> 
> All feedback is welcome
> 
> edit : I'm imagining the soulmate mark as the lyon flower tattoo Emma has on the show

Emma was twelve when her mark appeared.

 

She hadn’t even noticed it until she walked into the kitchen, took a spoon to her cereal, and her foster father scoffed. She looked curiously at him, wondering what he had a problem with (because so many foster father’s have had plenty of issues, but this one had always been relatively quiet). His eyes were on her left wrist.

 

“That’s just a myth you know.”

 

Emma was lost until she looked at her own arm, shocked to see that a flower had appeared overnight, just over her veins. How could it be a myth if her wrist was blank when she went to sleep last night? She looked up to her foster father to ask, but before she could, he continued.

 

“You’re never gonna meet your soulmate. They probably don’t even exist,” he said with a shrug, getting up from the table to leave his bowl unrinsed in the sink, like the moment was just as unimportant as any other, but to Emma, it was anything but.

 

Could she have a soulmate out there? Someone who would love her just because she… _was_? It seemed to good to be true, but Emma let herself believe it.

 

She tried anyway.

 

It lasted all about two hours, falling into ruin the second someone at school pointed out the mark. No one else in her class had one, which meant that she was a target, getting picked on for her differences, again.

 

She covered it up after that.

 

After high school, she just told people it was a tattoo, pretending not to notice whenever people didn’t believe her, and ignoring it, letting herself fall completely into the belief that soulmates were a myth.

 

It took seeing proof for her to believe it may hold any kind of truth.

 

Of the two of them, she met Mary Margaret first, through work, and more specifically through Ruby who was the one that got them both the job and insisted they all go out for drinks together. Mary Margaret was modest, a buttoning the top button type, so when they went out one night, and the woman’s collarbone was exposed, Emma couldn’t help but gape.

 

She had a soulmate mark.

 

David, her boyfriend, had walked up then, and Emma nearly jumped out of her skin. Ruby snickered, leaning over, “Yeah you should be scared. I saw you ogling.”

 

At that Emma had actually made a fake gagging noise, sputtering for a moment and gaining the attention of the couple across the table. She was left either fake admitting to _ogling_ her friend, which she absolutely was _not_ doing or just ask the question.

 

She didn’t know what she was expecting when she blurted “does David know you have one?” but it wasn’t laughter from the two people in question, and it definitely wasn’t David’s shirt coming off to reveal a matching mark on the opposite side of the same location.

 

Emma’s head filled with questions. _Soulmates are real? Is it just a coincidence? Did you always knew you would find each other? How??_

 

But before she could ask any of them, Mary Margaret was asking one of her own. “Have you met yours yet?”

 

All eyes went to Emma’s wrist, including her own.

 

“Oh… uh, no. I don’t have one.”

 

“Sure you do!” Mary Margaret smiled at her, so optimistic. “We were both unsure, but when we met, it just felt _right_. We didn’t see each other’s marks for a few weeks, but when we did, we knew. It’s not a myth.”

 

After that, she still had her doubts, but she believed in the possibility a little more.

 

But even if she believed in soulmates with everything she had, she would always doubt the odds. There were too many people in this world for it to work out.

 

Mary Margaret and David weren’t the rule, they were the exception.

 

A year later, Emma still has no soulmate, but she does maintain the same belief that she’s part of the group that never will.

 

But she’s always been different, so she shouldn’t have been surprised to end up in a category so rare she would have never known to consider it.

 

Emma’s spending time at Ruby’s apartment with David and Mary Margaret, having a few drinks. They do this thing every week, alternating between their apartments, and just... _not working_. It was supposed to be Emma’s turn to host, but when Ruby found out she didn’t even have cable, she took things into her own hands.

 

“Emma, if we’re going to play this game, we need cable. We’re going to my place.” The blonde rolled her eyes. “Look, I didn’t buy these fake moustaches for nothing.”

 

The moustaches are the key factor in this drinking game that Emma’s reluctant to admit is actually fun. Drink when the moustache stuck on the TV lines up with someone’s face. It’s in the background, so they make it a new rule that the person who calls it doesn’t drink, but the rest do, so when Ruby suddenly screams, gripping Emma’s arm hard, the blonde just goes ahead and starts waterfalling her beer.

 

“Emma, no! It’s not the moustache!” Ruby screeches, overdramatically reaching to rip the moustache off the TV with the hand not still grasping Emma’s arm.

 

“Ow! Ruby cut it out!”

 

“EmmaEmmaEmmaEmmaaa holy shit!”

 

The blonde laughs nervously as she knocks the rest of her beer, and she doesn’t look at the TV until she hears the word _fuck_ leaving Mary Margaret’s mouth. She almost spits out the last swallow at the woman’s f-bomb, but she recovers in just enough time to actually spit it out when she looks at the TV and sees _her_ soulmate mark on _someone else’s body_ , specifically on _someone else’s right wrist_ , the opposite of hers.

 

However, it isn’t just any person. “But… isn’t she like, _famous_?”

 

“Duh,” Ruby says. “That’s Regina Mills.”

 

Emma blinks. The name sounds familiar, but she doesn’t watch TV or keep up with any of this stuff, not like her friends do.

 

“She’s in that TV show…” David offers. “The one about the two sisters that work for the FBI…”

 

“Oh. Right…” Emma has no idea. She blinks at the woman on the screen, Regina, looking down at her arm as she talks. Ruby turns it up.

 

_“Yeah, it’s a mark,_ ” Regina admits to the interviewer nervously. “ _I got it when I was thirteen, but I spent most of my career covering it up. One day I went out, not thinking about it, and well, you know how it goes. Someone gets a picture and then that’s that. Now it seems like everyone talks to me about it._ ”

 

“ _Do you think it’s affected your career, either positively or negatively?_ ”

 

Regina’s brows furrow, as though carefully constructing her answer. Emma always thought it was bad enough talking about it as a random pedestrian no one paid any mind to, and she can’t imagine talking about it as a public figure.

 

“ _It’s interesting to say the least_ ,” Regina laughs, “ _I don’t have an issue with anyone knowing, but sometimes I do wish I’d been more careful. It can be… overwhelming._ ”

 

“ _Do people ever draw your mark on themselves, try to convince you they’re your soulmate?”_ Regina just laughs uncomfotrably, her lack of an answer indicating the affirmative. Emma’s jaw drops.

 

“Are you kidding me? People do that?”

 

“ _Do you think you’ll ever meet your soulmate?”_

 

Regina shrugs, her expression unreadable. “ _I can’t say for sure.”_

 

The interviewer nods, “ _I guess the real question is_ do you want to meet him? _”_

 

The last thing Emma hears before shutting the TV off is, “ _Who says it’s a_ him?”

 

“Emma! Are you kidding me? Turn it back on!” Ruby says, fighting for the remote. “You need to find out if she wants to meet you! What if she does!?”

 

“Ruby, stop. She won’t. I don’t even know her, but I can tell you she probably said ‘ _it would be nice but it’s unlikely’_ or something, which probably isn’t how she really feels about it. She isn’t going to say she wants to, because she knows that anyone who comes forward is just a fake. It’s fine. I don’t have a chance with her anyway,” Emma shrugs, going to get another beer.

 

“But, Emma! She’s your _soulmate_ . _Of course_ you have a chance with her!”

 

“Sorry to burst your optimistic bubble M&M, but I _really_ don’t think I do.”

 

\-----

 

“Oh!” The interviewer smiles in surprise, “You think your soulmate could be a woman?”

 

Regina shrugs, smirking a little to cover her irritation at society’s heteronormativity. “My soulmate could be anybody.”

 

“Well, with that in mind… _would_ you be interested in meeting them?”

 

Regina thought about it. Again. When her mark had first appeared, she was thirteen years old, already a child actress, pushed into the industry by her mother. She had been thrilled when she noticed the mark, thinking it could be her chance at a normal life, but Cora had been... less than thrilled, seeing it instead as the ruin of her career.

 

She'd been covering up her mark for years, so no one would see it or ask her about it, but she always wondered who else had the same one and what kind of person they were. She didn't know what she would do if she ever found them, but that didn't stop her from looking.

 

But then she slipped up. She went out one day and the paparazzi found it. At the time, it was only a suspicion, but then she went to an interview, forgetting to cover it up at all, and she didn't even notice until the interviewer asked, “Is that a tattoo or a soulmate mark?”

 

She didn't respond quick enough to pass it off as something else, caught off guard enough to give the answer away, and now she sees her mark on everyone everywhere, or at least it seems like it.

 

Still, she _would_ want to meet her soulmate. But it's _complicated._

 

She smiles at the interviewer. “It's unlikely, but it would be nice.”

 

That night when she gets home, she Google searches _celebrity soulmate marks_ just to see how other celebrities talk about theirs, if they do, or if they even have one, but most of her results are about her _own_ mark: it's discovery, the fan reactions, any time she's been asked about it.

 

Other than that, she only discovers two other celebrities that also have soulmate marks, both in the film industry, but they're each others’ soulmates and don't have the same problems Regina has.

 

She shuts her laptop with a sigh. Even if she were to meet her soulmate, she couldn't be sure it was really them.

 

Even if they knew it was her.

 

Does her soulmate know her already? Do they want to seek her out, or do they know that she sees their mark faked too many times for the odds to be in their favor? Do they think they two of them have a chance at a happy ending?

 

“Uh, Reg, this is your _soulmate_ . I'm sure if they know you they're a but stunned, _but_ they're your _soulmate,”_ is Zelena's advice to her when she recounts her fears to her on screen sister the next morning. “Now I need you to stop moping around and get ready. We never get a day off, and we're not wasting today. Let's go to lunch.”

 

“You know I can't. Maybe you can still get away with it, but going undercover is impossible for me these days…”

 

“Look. I have a friend who owns a nice little diner. Out of the way, small… plus she can make sure we get some privacy. Some of her staff don't even watch our show.”

 

“Yeah, but…”

 

“Shush. I'm texting her now.” Zelena says, nose in her phone. “We're going.”

 

“So… how do you know this person exactly?”

 

Zelena just shoots her a cryptic smile, a refusal to elaborate.

 

“Fine. I'll get ready to go.”

 

\-----

 

Emma groans into her hands, leaning over the counter, grateful she doesn’t even have a table to watch her do it. David has _one_ , and it’s the only table in the restaurant. He appears next to her to cash them out, and Emma rolls her eyes.

 

“Belle should have sent me home an hour ago.”

 

“Don’t you need the money?”

 

“Does it _look_ like I’m gonna make money?” Emma scoffs, gesturing at the empty diner.

 

David shrugs, “You never know!”

 

“Ugh, you’ve been spending too much time with Mary Margaret,” Emma says, pushing away from the counter and almost running into Belle. “Shit, sorry…”

 

Her manager dismisses her with a wave, “Don’t worry about it. So, I’m sorry to say, but I’ve got to send one of you home--”

 

“Okay, well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Emma says, moving to walk around Belle, but getting stopped before she can.

 

“Woah, woah, I didn’t say _you_ could go.”

 

Emma gapes, “But I haven’t had a table in half an hour! David _has_ a table!” She gestures in their general direction to find that they’re no longer in the restaurant. “Okay, so maybe he doesn’t _anymore_ , but… still.”

 

“I get it, Emma, I really do. But we have some special people coming, and I want you to take care of them.”

 

The blonde looks away with a sigh. She’s not going to let Belle down, and besides, _special guests_ is basically code for _good tip_ , especially if they know Belle. “Yeah, okay. I’ll do it.”

 

She goes ahead and sets up the table in the back corner at Belle’s request before going to bother Neal in the kitchen until she hears the bell on the front door.

 

“So, special guests?” Neal asks her just as they hear the chime. Belle leans back in her desk chair to shoot her a look from the office.

 

“I don’t know,” Emma shrugs, pulling a guest check pad from her apron, getting ready to go. “I’m hoping it’s nothing too wild. Some of Belle’s friends maybe?”

 

“Should I wish you luck?”

 

“ _Please_ , I’m a server, not a chemical engineer. I think I can handle a table.” Neal snickers as Emma makes her way out of the kitchen. Her eyes are on her apron as she pulls out a pen on the way over, and they’re on the guest check when she gets to the table. She’s already said, “Hey, I hope you’re having a great day,” before she looks up, freezing when she locks eyes with Regina Mills, her soulmate according to the universe.

 

Her eyes flash to where Regina’s right wrist must be under the table before clearing her throat and recovering as quick as she can. She wants to treat her like a normal person. Not like a celebrity, not like her soulmate. Like any other “special guest” Emma’s had to take care of in the past that she didn’t recognize.

 

So she tries, recovering as fast as possible and hoping it’s good enough.

 

“My name’s Emma. What can I get you to drink?” Her voice sounds squeakier than it was a moment ago, so she clears her throat again. “We have Pepsi products, lemonade, some beers… there’s a drink menu if you need it.”

 

The woman who isn’t Regina speaks first. “Tell Belle she should have already had my drink ready for me. She knows me better than that,” she says with a wink. Emma isn’t sure what to say so she nods and looks to Regina.

 

The brunette looks up at her, moving her hands to rest atop the table and revealing their shared mark, and Emma suddenly realizes that her own mark is just _right here,_ out in the open (more or less), and she angles her hand awkwardly just so Regina won’t _accidentally_ see it. She doesn’t know how to handle this whole situation, but she _does_ know that she doesn’t want to rouse suspicion.

 

“Water is fine,” Regina says, looking back down at the table.

 

“Okay, be right back,” Emma says as she turns before dashing to the office. “ _Belle_ . I _can’t_ take care of that table.”

 

Her manager looks up at her from the computer, giving Emma a strange look. “Why…?”

 

“Just.... _because_.”

 

Belle levels her with a look. “Sorry, Emma, but David already left. You know as well as I do that you’re the only one on the floor right now, and I’m sure they both know it too. They also know that you have no other tables, so you better get their drinks out before they have to ask where you went.”

 

“Right… about that…”

 

“Oh! Z’s drink! It’s a green apple martini. I’ll make it, okay?”

 

“I can do it,” the blonde says, but she makes no motion to leave the office.

 

“Emma?”

 

The blonde sighs deeply, eyeing the doorway to the front. Just thinking about walking out there is making her heart race uncomfortably. “I can’t do it,” she says again, trying to sound firm, but really she just sounds kind of whiny.

 

“Why?” Belle asks again, more firm than the last time, and Emma doesn’t really want to tell her especially not if she _knows_ Regina or her friend personally, but there’s no other way out. She hold out her arm. Belle squints at it. Emma knows she’s seen it plenty of times before, but she’s hoping that she won’t have to voice the issue for it to catch on.

 

Her manager’s eyes widen suddenly. “I always thought that was a tattoo, but it’s not... is it?” Then she leans in closer, grabbing Emma’s arm and squinting down at it again. “Wait a minute…”

 

Emma snatches her hand back the second she knows that Belle figures it out. “Yeah, I just found out last night. She apparently sees people with it all the time, faking it. I can’t let her see it.”

 

“But she’s your _soulmate_ . Do you know how rare it is to have one? Much less, _meet them_?”

 

“C’mon, Belle. This can’t end good. Do you have anything I can cover it up with?”

 

“No. No way. Even if I did, I wouldn’t give it to you, This is way too interesting,” she says with a sly grin. “I’m gonna go talk to them.” Emma’s eyes widen as she prepares to talk Belle down from whatever conversation she has in mind. “Calm down, I’m not going to spill your secret. Now go get those drinks ready.”

 

\------

 

As soon as their server, _Emma_ , walks away, Regina leans towards her co-star. “Do you think she recognizes us?”

 

“Who?”

 

Regina rolls her eyes, “Who do you think? She kind of froze up for a minute, after she saw us.”

 

Zelena shrugs, “I don’t know. Maybe she just thought you were hot. She wasn’t looking at _me_ . It was _all_ you.”

 

Regina’s brow furrows. That can’t be right. “I don’t think…”

 

“Trust me,” Zelena snorts. “Pay attention the next time she comes over here, and you’ll see what I mean.”

 

She glances over in time to see Emma walking from the kitchen to the bar. They make eye contact, and the blonde looks away immediately. “So, that girl…” she hears Zelena start. Belle is perched on the end of the booth across from her.

 

“Emma?” Belle asks.

 

“Yes, that’s the one,” Zelena grins over at Regina. “My _sister_ here is worried that she recognizes her…”

 

Belle shrugs, “I can tell you that she doesn’t watch the show. I talked about you both about a week ago, and she had no idea who I was talking about. It’s one of the reasons I had her stay to take care of you both.”

 

“Oh,” Regina says, casting a curious look towards the blonde, starting to walk over with their drinks.

 

Meanwhile, Emma is _completely_ overwhelmed. Not only is her _soulmate_ sitting in her restaurant, and not only is she interacting with her, but she has to do everything _opposite_ of how she normally does. She’s left handed, but if she wants to hide the soulmate mark on her dominant hand, she’s going to have to be right handed… somehow.

 

Emma freezes up _again_ when she gets back to the table. For a moment she thinks that Belle is going to help her, but she just smiles and walks away. “I’ll come back later,” she reassures her guests, leaving Emma to avoid uncomfortable humiliation all on her own.

 

But it would have looked weird for her to help Emma just set down two cups.

 

Given the circumstances, it looks weird anyways.

 

Emma sets down Zelena’s with her right hand and goes to do the same with Regina’s in her left, before she stops. If she does that, Regina might see her mark. So then she gets an idea and thinks it might not be that awkward, but when she transfers the glass of water from her left hand to her right before setting it in front of the brunette, it’s actually _really fucking awkward_. Regina gives her a curious look, and the fact that she’s noticing her at all makes Emma’s stomach flip.

 

_That’s my soulmate._

 

It’s all she can think about as she starts to panic, but she tries to just be _casual_ . And if _casual_ is stuffing her left hand into a pocket of her apron and giving the two women a tight smile, so be it. “Are you ready to order?”

 

Both women are, and that’s when Emma realizes that she’s not sneaky enough to pull out the guest check and a pen without accidentally showing off her mark. They look at her expectantly, and she motions with her free hand for them to continue. She can remember two orders so as long as neither one says anything--

 

“Aren’t you going to write this down?” Emma blushes before she even meets Regina’s eyes.

 

“Un, I can remember it,” she tries, but the brunette quirks an eyebrow and any argument Emma could make is moot. “Good point.” But now Regina’s _staring at her_ and maybe if she were looking anywhere else, Emma might risk taking her hand out of her apron, but as it is, she _can’t_. The stakes are too high.

 

“Oh, wait, I forgot my pen.”

 

It’s the stupidest thing Emma could have said, but if she can walk away and come back, hands in position to hide the mark, she should be good to go. They probably won’t even notice how ridiculous of a reason it is.

 

\-----

 

“She must have had like, ten pens??” Regina hisses across the table at Zelena, who just shrugs.

 

“Maybe they’re props.”

 

“Isn’t that a little impractical?”

 

Zelena shakes her head at the brunette, but Emma comes back before she can answer. “Sorry about that,” the blonde says with what Regina calls _suspicion_. She squints for a moment until green eyes meet hers and she looks back down, ordering her food as she reads but peering at Emma right after while she takes Zelena’s order.

 

Something about the way Emma is writing looks… unusual, and normally Regina wouldn’t give it much thought but the waitress has already caught her attention for doing strange things, and Regina isn’t about to drop her investigation.

 

It has absolutely _nothing_ to do with the fact that the brunette finds Emma cute, which she _doesn’t_.

 

The blonde’s brow furrows in concentration as she readjusts the pen in her hand and that’s when Regina realizes-- “Are you ambidextrous?”

 

“Um… no?” Emma says, fidgeting on the spot.

 

“But didn’t you just write with your left hand? When you took our drink orders?”

 

“I…” Emma trails off, caught off guard as her eyes widen and she looks around almost as if looking for a way out, and it just makes Regina more baffled and _interested_ . This girl who supposedly had never heard of her as of a week ago has been expressing more nervous quirks than Regina knew existed. Her eyes are on Emma’s as she waits for her to answer. To say _anything_ . To elaborate _at all_. But Zelena interrupts her stuttering, and if Emma was ever going to say anything, Regina will never know.

 

“You know… I dated someone who was ambidextrous once. It came in handy _if you know what I mean_.”

 

Regina’s eyes dart to Zelena long enough for the redhead to know she’s irritated with her before looking back to Emma, watching her jaw go slack at Zelena’s implication. “Um, I think I know what you mean.”

 

“I would hope so,” Zelena laughs.

 

Regina stops listening then, more interested in Emma’s reactions, and the way she’s still standing, pen in one hand, guest check pad in the other, and when Zelena’s voice isn’t carrying through the diner for a moment, the brunette takes the opportunity to smirk and ask, “Are you taking notes on this conversation too?”

 

“What?” Emma blinks. Regina nods at her hands. “Oh. No…” she says, blush spreading across her face as she slowly drops her hands. It’s such an unnatural movement, almost as though they don’t even belong to her.

 

“Well, I should go put your food in,” Emma says as she slips away, bolting to the computer and peering over it at the two women every few seconds.

 

Even though Neal finally has something to cook and less than his full attention to spare her, Emma doesn’t stop herself from pacing in the kitchen.

 

“Emma. Chill out. Why don’t you just let her see it? Maybe she’d like you if you give it a chance.”

 

“Are you kidding?” Emma says, spinning around to gape at Neal. “According to that interview, she has people faking it all the time. What if she thinks I am too?”

 

“Isn’t there some way she would know you’re not? I mean, you are soulmates, after all…”

 

Emma stops pacing, pausing to take in a deep breath, counting to ten before letting it out. “I’m not going to tell her,” she decides. “I’m _not.”_

 

“Mhmm,” Neal grins up at her over the counter between them.

 

“Shut up.”

 

She marches away from Neal, but stops just before she enters the dining room, trying to think of some better way to hide the mark than unprofessionally sticking her hands in her apron pockets. Putting her hand behind her back should look normal, she thinks as she grabs a water pitcher from behind the bar with her right hand.

 

As it turns out, it’s more awkward than hiding it in her pocket.

 

She keeps wanting to pull it out from behind her, and she nearly flinches every time she catches herself. Regina squints at her as she tops off the brunette’s glass, her hand wobbling enough to prove that she’s _definitely not_ ambidextrous, but Emma doesn’t care. As awkward as this is, it couldn’t be any worse than what would happen if Regina saw the mark.

 

The minute that Emma leaves, Regina is whispering across the table again, eyeing the blonde as she disappears through the door leading to the back. “I think something’s up.”

 

Zelena’s brow furrows, something in Regina’s tone leading her to believe that this might actually be something serious. “What do you mean?”

 

It seems impossible to explain. If Zelena hasn’t noticed anything unusual, could Regina just be making it all up? “I don’t know,” she says with a sigh. “I just have a feeling.”

 

Zelena watches her for a long moment before finally asking, “Is this about the pens?”

 

“No… yes? Maybe? I don’t know,” Regina’s voice raises in exasperation. “Some of her mannerisms seem to be… misplaced?”

 

She hopes that Zelena will understand, or will have noticed _anything_ and thought it could be something relevant. She hopes they can theorize together and get to the bottom of this, if it _requires_ such a thing. Instead, the redhead just shrugs. “If you say so.”

 

Shaking her head, the brunette attempts to come up with a rationale on her own.

 

Or at the very least, get to the bottom of why it matters so much to her.

 

People act strange around her _all_ the time. It’s not something foreign to her, but at the same time, it stands out with a different kind of familiarity. Something almost… _relatable_.

 

The thought startles her as she recalls a moment from her own life, in the early days when her mark appeared and her mother didn’t know.

 

She would usually cover the with makeup, but her mother was so wrapped up in the desire to perfect that she could _smell_ the makeup. At night, she would admonish Regina and send her back to rewash her face, not satisfied until she could no longer detect the traces of any makeup, visibly or olfactibly.

 

Of course, Regina’s next plan would be to wear anything with long sleeves, but sometimes it was just _too hot_ , or her mother would have some sort of ridiculous comment that would lead Regina to remove the layer.

 

That’s when things would get awkward, her movements all becoming centered around hiding her mark.

 

Holding her right hand behind or underneath _anything,_ being unable to use both hands freely like she could have before, positioning her wrist _just so_ so that the mark would be indiscernible.  There was even a time where she held her hand behind her back, like Emma just had.

 

“I think…” she starts, her eyes narrowing as they seek Zelena’s. “I think she has a soulmate mark.”

 

Her costar’s eyebrows raise to her hairline. “Really,” she says in interest.

 

“When I used to hide mine from my mother, I would do some of the same things she’s been doing. Maybe she’s ashamed of it…”

 

“Well. Maybe bring it up and see what she says,” Zelena suggests. “You could change her thoughts on it…. Tell her it’s nothing to be ashamed of ‘cause you have one too.”

 

“I think she might already know I have one… she keeps looking at it.”

 

Zelena snickers, “What if _she’s_ your soulmate?”

 

Regina feels her cheeks burning at the suggestion. _That_ is something he hadn’t considered, and while she doesn’t want to say it’s impossible, she’s accepted that ever meeting her soulmate is highly unlikely. “I doubt it… I’ve given up hope that I’ll ever find them. It’s too complicated, given my career. Besides, what are the odds that it would be her?”

 

“But would you mind? If she was?”

 

Before Regina can answer, Emma’s kicking the door to the kitchen open with her foot and is carrying their food out on a tray.

 

This time, Emma thinks, it’s not _too_ weird, carrying the tray in her left hand, but she does struggle when it comes to balancing the tray when one plate comes off as well as setting them down with her right hand. Nothing gets dropped and her mark is concealed under the tray the entire time so Emma decides it’s a success.

 

“How’s everything look?” she asks, setting the tray on the table beside them and stuffing her hands back in her apron when their eyes fall to their plates.

 

“Good,” Regina says, a small smile on her face as she glances up at Emma, and the other woman nods in agreement.

 

“Okay, good,” Emma says, rocking on her feet waiting to see if they’re going to ask for anything else. The redhead’s eyes are on Regina, not even remotely subtle as she raises her eyebrows and nodding towards Emma. “Um… so, do you need anything else?”

 

“We’re fine,” Regina answers as she turns her head away. _Is she… blushing?_

 

But Emma doesn’t find out. She squeaks out a quick, “Okie, dokie,” before taking a big step backwards, turning her back to them and scowling at herself for saying _okie dokie_.

 

“Hey, wait!”

 

The blonde spins slowly on the spot, hands still tucked away in her apron. The way that Regina’s eyes widen as they shift from Zelena, to Emma, and then back to her co-star makes Emma even more nervous than the impish grin spreading on the redhead’s face.

 

She doesn’t let another beat pass before asking, “Have you ever met someone with a soulmate mark? Regina and I were just talking about them.”

 

Emma had to fight back any kind of visible reaction, her shock manifesting in a small cheep in her throat. _They were talking about soulmate marks? Do they_ know _?_ “Uh…” Emma swallows hard, completely at a loss for how to answer that. She both sees and hears Regina kicking Zelena under the table but the redhead is unfazed, smiling expectantly at Emma.

 

“Um, yeah, actually… I have two friends that are soulmates. They both have marks. The same one on the opposite sides and everything… I always thought it was a myth until I met them.”

 

“Do you still think it’s a myth?”

 

Zelena’s interest in Emma’s thoughts on the subject is unsettling, but the blonde shrugs anyways, answering honestly. “I don’t know. Maybe a little. The universe can be wrong too.”

 

And Regina, who’s had her head down this entire time, looks up just then, her eyes meeting Emma’s full of a softness that can only comes from _knowing_ , from the words leaving someone’s mouth and clicking just right, and even if Regina doesn’t know all the truth, she understands where Emma’s coming from.

 

But her answer gives her away, she’s sure of it. Both women already suspected she had a mark, and her criticism of the universe implies that she does.

 

Emma can’t tear her eyes from Regina’s, and she’s about to suspect that the brunette can sense it, whatever their connection is, if it even exists at all, but then Zelena (clearly impatient with Regina’s nonexistent attempt to further the conversation) blurts out, “Do you have one? A soulmate?”

 

Emma’s jaw drops.

 

“Zelena!” Regina scolds across the table.

 

It’s all Emma can do not to just slip away without a word, but she only has to wait a beat for the attention to be off her. So when Zelena turns to Regina with a huff, “What? I was just--” the blonde decides to take advantage of the moment.

 

“I’ll let you guys get to your food.” It comes out all in one breath, and by the next, she’s disappearing through the kitchen door.

 

\-----

 

“Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod,” Emma says as she paces even more frantically , this time in the office, turning around every second step in the small space.

 

Belle chuckles up at her from the desk chair. “Emma, it’s not a big deal. You know, it wouldn’t really be any weirder if your soulmate was a person with a menial job. Someone who’s not a celebrity. I really think--”

 

“That doesn’t help!” Emma stops to exclaim. “I think they’re onto me. I need a cover up.”

 

“Emma, I think you should give love a chance. Follow your heart.”

 

“Okay, well, my heart is pounding so hard it’s almost begging me to make a run for it. In the opposite direction. Home.”

 

“I’ll fire you.”

 

Emma snorts, “No you won’t.” Belle is too nice to do that. Emma would probably have to cuss out the entire dining room to warrant such an extremity.

 

“You’re right,” Belle sighs. “I won’t. But I do think you should consider just saying something. I understand you’re worried, but Regina is _actually_ your soulmate. Besides, your marks are identical. And I know you can pass it off as a tattoo to just anyone, but Regina… she’s not just anyone. She’s been looking at the _exact same mark_ for years now. I think if anyone could tell it was real, it would be her.”

 

It’s a good point, but Emma’s not sure it’s enough.

 

\-----

 

“ _Zelena_ , you can’t just ask people if they have a soulmate! Especially since she didn’t _actually confirm_ that she has a mark.”

 

“She totally has a mark!”

 

“We don’t know that…” Regina says, trying to fight the blush from her cheeks. Even if they don’t know _for sure_ , that look the two of them had shared had been something of deep understanding. Maybe not exactly the same, but when she looked into those green eyes, she could see Emma’s apprehension about the whole subject.

 

“Regina, seriously? Going off of that reaction…” Zelena trails off, brows furrowing. “But really, I do wonder if she’s ever _met_ her soulmate.”

 

“Oh god,” Regina groans into her hands. “Please don’t ask her that. Besides, I doubt she has… you heard what she said about the universe being wrong sometimes… I think she’s right.” The brunette stares down at the mark on her wrist, her fingers dancing over it. She wonders if she’d feel any differently about it if she saw it on someone else’s arm, not a fake one but the real deal. _Too bad I’ll never find out_ , she thinks bitterly.

 

“Look, all I’m saying is she’s gone to great and awkward measures to hide something from us… on her left wrist,” Zelena says, meeting Regina’s eyes before glancing down at Regina’s mark on her right.

 

“Zelena, _no_. I doubt it.” Her co-star makes a face at her, rolling her eyes before getting back to her lunch, but Regina can’t bring herself to do the same.

 

The idea keeps nagging at her. Is anyone so ashamed of their mark that they would act like that? And besides, wouldn’t Emma have just covered it up before coming to work? Unless she normally isn’t ashamed about it… and Regina’s presence is as significant as Zelena’s implying…

 

_No. No way._

 

\-----

 

_No way_ , Emma thinks as she paces _again_ , trying to work up the courage to simply _walk back out there_. If she can barely do that, why does Belle think she’d be able to come out to Regina, show her the mark or mention it at all?

 

Finally, she’s out the door, face plastered with a smile she hopes doesn’t look as uncomfortable as it feels. She’s holding her left wrist in her right hand, wringing it against her chest as she takes robotic steps towards them. Zelena smirks up at her, but the brunette just keeps staring at Emma’s hands.

 

_But what if?_

 

Emma shakes the thought from her mind. _Ridiculous_. “How is everything?”

 

“Oh, it’s great,” Zelena says, eyes dancing between the two of them.

 

Emma almost doesn’t notice as her eyes freeze on Regina’s own arm, uncovered except for her thumb as she absentmindedly brushes over it. The action paired with the way Regina is still staring at Emma’s hidden arm as if trying to see right through it to the other side has the blonde wondering again. _Would it really be so bad if she saw it? What would she say?_

 

Zelena clearing her throat breaks both women from their trances. “Regina?”

 

“Oh,” Regina clears her throat, looking away from Emma and down at her food. “It’s good.”

 

“Okay,” Emma says, disappearing again.

 

She decides not to say anything. Soulmate or not, it would be best to just take this secret with her to the grave. Regina certainly deserves better than her, right? And anyway, if it’s meant to happen, it’ll just… happen.

 

It’s what Emma thinks, and really, she gets what she deserves.

 

Muscle memory is a bitch.

 

The next time Emma goes to their table, Regina’s finished with her food, and all she can think about it getting the now dirty plate out of her way, so _of course_ she reaches for it with her left hand.

 

She realizes what that reveals too late, and when she sees her own mark in plain sight, she reacts by instinctively pulling her hand back, and within seconds, the plate she had already grabbed is shattering against the floor. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Emma says, holding her left hand in her right, cradling it as if it could make this whole experience go away. “I’m gonna…” she gestures vaguely behind her before going in search of a broom, passing Belle on the way and hoping to god that Regina didn’t see the mark.

 

“Is she okay?” Zelena asks Belle at the table.

 

“Yeah, she’s fine. She’s just nervous I guess…” Belle responds, and that’s all Regina hears.

 

The room feels still and impossible, and if Emma comes back to clean the mess, the brunette can’t tell. When Zelena’s plate gets taken, she doesn’t notice. She doesn’t even know that Belle has retreated to the back until her co-star suddenly says her name. “What’s the deal? You got really quiet all of a sudden…”

 

“Did you not see…?”

 

“See wh--”

 

“She has the mark.”

 

“What mark?”

 

“ _Mine,_ ” Regina whispers, turning her right hand over, palm up, glancing around to make sure that Emma isn’t in the dining room.

 

Zelena gapes at her. “Shut up! Are you serious? Do you think it’s real?” Her eyes grow wider with every question, and if Regina wasn’t in shock, she might have laughed. “Regina, talk to me! This is _wild_. I know I said… but I never… oh my god! Do you think it’s real?”

 

“Fake ones get thrown at me all the time. If hers was fake, I doubt she’d be trying to hide it.”

 

“But why hide it at all?”

 

It’s a question Regina isn’t ready for, like most of the ones racing through her mind. She _never_ expected this day would come, and even though a part of her still wonders if she was imagining things, even though she hardly knows the woman, Emma being her soulmate, as opposed to the hundreds and hundreds of people who had faked their marks for her, is entirely believable.

 

She isn’t sure what to say about this to Zelena, but Emma is suddenly there again to drop off the checks, dodging eye contact. “Oh. Was this together or separate? Sorry, I forgot to ask.”

 

“Separate,” Zelena says.

 

Regina shakes her head, her voice coming out softer than she expected it to. “It’s fine…”

 

“Separate.”

 

The brunette eyes her co-star suspiciously. “Don’t listen to her. I don’t want to give you the trouble, since you’ve already printed it.”

 

Emma laughs, and Regina’s heart reacts by swelling a little in her chest. _That’s my soulmate._ She ducks her head to hide the smile forming on her lips, though she doesn’t think Emma’s looking at her. “It’s okay,” Emma says, glancing around the empty restaurant. “You’re the only table. I’ll do separate if you want.”

 

“Please,” Zelena grins.

 

“Be right back.”

 

Regina wants to ask her what she’s up to, but she’s sure if she waits long enough, Zelena will just tell her. The redhead eyes Emma at the computer before looking to Regina, eyes bright, mouth tilting into a slow grin, and Regina knows what’s coming before she has to say it.

 

“You should leave her your number. On your check.” Regina sighs. “Are you going to say something?”

 

“If she really wanted me to know, she wouldn’t be hiding.”

 

This time, Zelena is the one who doesn’t get to respond, cut off by Emma walking up. She sets the checks down, one in each hand, clearly no longer concerned with her hand placement. Regina thinks it’s all in her head, but it’s almost as if Emma’s hands linger, intentionally giving Regina time to notice. She nervously peeks up at Emma, following her eyes down to the mark on her left wrist, identical to Regina’s.

 

“Thank you,” she says in a whisper, smiling at Emma as the blonde pulls back. _Does she want me to know? If she’s not hiding anymore, maybe I shouldn’t either._

 

\-----

 

_Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe she’s already seen it…_ Emma had thought at the computer. She decided not to hide, but not be _too_ blatant. After all, what were the chances of being in this situation again, much less, the same room?

 

So she did it. She took a quasi-chance, exposing her mark for Regina to see, and hoping that it wouldn’t end poorly.

 

She was optimistic.

 

But now that the moment has passed, and she’s not at the table anymore, her whole nervous system is being overturned by gay panic. “Oh my god, so do you think she knows?” she asks as she looks helplessly at Neal.

 

He shrugs. “Do you want her to?”

 

“I have no idea,” Emma whines into her hands. “What if she’s not even interested? She’s famous since birth, right? She probably has like, two houses that are both beautiful, and I live in a disgusting apartment upstairs. And no offense to this place, but it’s location isn’t really idea. She’s successful and beautiful, and I’m just a deadbeat twenty-five year old college grad who can’t get a _real job_ ,” she ends with a roll of her eyes. “But it’s whatever. Like I said, the universe can be wrong sometimes.”

 

She feels a little defeated, but shrugs it off. Fate hadn’t been on her side before, so what reason did she have to believe it would be now?

 

When she walks back out to the table to collect their payment, she’s trying to push the whole soulmate thing as far away from her mind as possible, so she smiles, and actually looks at Regina even though she’s not looking back.

 

“I don’t need change,” Zelena says as Emma picks up the books.

 

“Thanks,” Emma grins. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

 

Regina smiles back at her then, and Emma’s heart jumps. She turns away with a blush, thinking _that’s my soulmate_ all over again. While she gets Zelena’s order cashed out, all she can think is about what she should do. She has only one trip left to the table. Should she show Regina her mark? Should she leave her number? Should she do nothing?

 

But the brunette’s smile was captivating, lingering in her mind, and Emma didn’t really want to let that go, not that it was hers to begin with.

 

But could it be?

 

Emma’s so lost in her thoughts that she opens Regina’s book without even thinking about it, freezing when she spots her mark, _their_ mark, drawn on the back of the woman’s check. She looks up with a gasp and immediately meets Regina’s eyes, bright and full of _something_ , but before Emma can place it, the brunette smirked and turned back in the booth, of which she is now the only occupant.

 

The blonde stares back down at the drawing, holding her arm next to it. She’s drawn it herself before, but this is surreal, just as it had been when she first saw that Regina and she shared the mark, just as it had been when she saw it in person for the first time, just as it might be if she says the right things.

 

She finishes up, her mind somehow racing and clearing, an exhilarating and impossible blend, much like the two of them.

 

Regina doesn’t look up until Emma sets the book down on the table, and when she does, she appears nervous, wanting to smile but holding it back just because she isn’t sure which way this will go.

 

“Hi,” Emma can’t seem to do anything, but smile, and it only grows wider when Regina smiles back at her, scooting over on the bench to make room.

 

“Hi.”

 

The blonde doesn’t hesitate before sitting next to Regina, her _soulmate_ , taking her hand, and turning it over in hers to see their marks, side by side. Without thinking, she lifts Regina’s right hand to her lips, brushing them against the brunette’s wrist.

 

Regina blushes and takes Emma’s hand in both of hers, leaning into her so that their shoulders are pressed together. She traces the shape of their mark on Emma’s wrist.

 

“I got it when I was twelve. My foster dad at the time told me I would never meet my soulmate, and then I tried to hide it at school cause no one else had one. When I was older, I used to lie and say it was just a tattoo. No one could tell unless they looked close enough.”

 

Regina smiles a little, her eyes still on both their marks. “Is that why you tried to hide it?”

 

Emma shrugs, unsure how to answer. It’s complicated, really, but she looks at Regina and knows she understands without her having to say anything.

 

It’s overwhelming, her soulmate’s eyes on hers, their fingers intertwined, and Emma’s getting dizzier despite her sitting position. “Emma?” The blonde hadn’t thought the sensation could be any more enhanced, but the breathless way Regina said her name proved her wrong.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Um,” Regina laughs and ducks her head. It’s beautiful but all Emma wants is to tilt her head back up towards her.

 

So she does.

 

“Can I kiss you?”

 

Regina laughs again. “That’s what I was going to ask you.”

 

“Is that a yes?”

 

Regina’s lips, soft and warm against hers is the answer she gets.

 

It’s all the answer she needs.

 

**Author's Note:**

> tell me your thoughts; put a smile on my face


End file.
